Stay
by glow-in-the-dark
Summary: When Yukina goes to school, Hiei returns to Ningenkai to watch over her. Kurama’s studying abroad, so Yusuke invites him to stay at his house. Sparks fly.
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

Every month, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Yusuke got together for a night of drinking and merriment. They somehow managed never to end up in the same place twice. Yusuke and Kurama admitted that if left to themselves, they would probably arrange get-togethers only once a year, but Kuwabara was adamant about the monthly outings. "We're each other's best friends," he'd insist sagely. "Friendships don't sustain themselves, you know. You have to work at it. And that's why we're going to meet up again in a month." He always managed to extract a promise from his friends to show up at the next meeting, and they always kept their word.

As to Hiei's absence -- "Well, the little guy grows on you. I'd die for him," Kuwabara would confide. But only after at least three bottles of beer. Then, his words slurred, he'd add, "But if either of you tell him that, I'll kill you. He's in the demon world, and he can stay there. I like him better when he's not around."

This night, their meeting promised to be more interesting than most. Kuwabara had just come from a visit to Genkai's mountain home, where Yukina also lived, and he learned that Yukina was planning to go to school.

"High school, huh?" Yusuke took a swig of beer. "I know Yukina looks young enough to play the part, but it's going to be a big culture shock for her."

This month, the three of them were in a seedy bar. Yusuke only had to land one good punch on a hulking troublemaker to scare everyone else away from him. Kurama had to fend off advances from both males and females, but he handled it good-naturedly. Kuwabara knew the bartender from some literature class, and managed to secure free drinks.

"Actually, it sounds like a good idea," said Kurama, tapping his fingers thoughtfully on his glass. Yusuke and Kuwabara were chugging down beers straight from the bottle, but he was having vodka and ice.

"Really?" Kuwabara looked sharply up from his beer. "Do you think she can handle it?"

"Well, she handled that ugly bastard who wanted to make her cry so he could make money off her tears when they turned into pearls, right? She survived that pretty well," Yusuke pointed out. "I think she can handle a few high school kids."

"I wish I wasn't in college yet," Kuwabara grumbled. "I wish I were in high school, too, then I could protect her from all the jerks there."

Yusuke and Kuwabara were taking business-related courses, but Kurama was taking a premed course. His knowledge of medicinal herbs was a great help to him. He wanted to become a doctor.

"How do you think Hiei's going to react when he hears this?" Yusuke said without thinking.

"Why would Hiei care what Yukina does?" Kuwabara asked, frowning.

Yusuke turned red, and Kurama coughed. Kuwabara still didn't know that Hiei and Yukina were brother and sister. And Hiei wanted to keep it that way.

"He wouldn't," said Kurama quickly. "Yusuke meant, how is Hiei going to react when he hears that — that you want to go back to high school." He grinned weakly. "It was just a lame joke, right, Yusuke?"

Yusuke burst out laughing. "Right."

"I didn't say I was planning to go back to high school," Kuwabara retorted. "All I said was that —"

"You wanted to," Yusuke interrupted, still smirking.

"Because I want to be near Yukina!"

"Not because college is harder than you thought?"

"No! I'm doing fine!"

"Oh, are you? Are you? Then why are you out here drinking with your friends on a school night?"

Kurama marveled at how neatly Yusuke had managed to divert Kuwabara's attention from his blunder. He watched, grinning, as they continued to bicker about Kuwabara's brains and Yusuke's lack thereof.

After a few more minutes, when the argument showed no signs of abating, Kurama decided it was time to interrupt. "So when does Yukina plan to start?"

Kuwabara picked up a nut from a saucer on the table and tossed it into Yusuke's bottle. His aim was perfect; the nut landed precisely inside the tiny round opening of the beer bottle. "This school year's going to end in a month, so I think she plans to start next school year."

"As a freshman?"

Kuwabara shot another nut into Yusuke's bottle, nodding.

"Was this Genkai's idea or Yukina's?" he asked.

"Yukina's. She talks to Keiko and Shizuru all the time, too, and they planted the idea in their head."

"Yeah. Keiko's big on education," muttered Yusuke. He glanced at the nuts floating in his beer. When Kuwabara wasn't looking, he switched their bottles.

The glum note in his voice didn't escape his friends, and Kurama and Kuwabara traded looks. "How are things with you and Keiko?"

"She found out that I haven't passed a single test in weeks," Yusuke said despondently. "She got a bit angry about it."

"By 'a bit angry,' do you mean she's furious?" said Kurama dryly.

Yusuke sighed and nodded.

"Cheer up," said Kuwabara, slapping him on the back. "She'll get over it and forgive you. She always does."

Yusuke couldn't suppress a grin. "That is true."

Kurama finished his vodka. He grabbed Kuwabara's beer and drank from it, then promptly choked. "There are nuts in the beer."

"His fault," said Yusuke and Kuwabara at the same time, pointing at each other.

* * *

**Disclaimer:**  
I own nothing except the plot of this fic, and any characters you may not recognize.

**Author's Note:**  
Hiei arrives in Yusuke's house in the next chapter. Please review!


	2. Chapter One: The Return of Hiei

**CHAPTER ONE**

Yusuke had been having a very pleasant dream about food when an odd sensation prickled at the back of his neck, stirring him into consciousness. Sleepily, he opened his eyes.

And saw a familiar figure standing at the foot of his bed, glaring at him for no apparent reason. Yusuke froze, completely caught off guard.

"Can I stay with you?" Hiei threw out the question coolly, even casually, his maroon eyes unreadable.

Yusuke was still groggy, trying to absorb the suddenness of his old friend's appearance and the unexpectedness of his question. He could only manage an inarticulate sound. "Eh?"

At that gem of wisdom, the fire demon groaned. "Hell, detective, you're still an idiot."

Yusuke sat up, the blanket falling down around his waist to reveal a lean, muscular upper body, with a wide chest tapering down to washboard abs. His black hair was tousled, and there was a sleep-induced crease on his right cheek. But his brown eyes shot sparks as he said, after a glance at the digital clock on the floor next to his bed — he kept knocking it off the bedside table in his sleep — "It's four o'clock in the morning, Hiei, and you have just interrupted the sleep I need to be well prepared for a very important exam I have later. Spare me the insults. I'm not in the mood. What do you think you're doing here?"

Hiei didn't look the least bit perturbed. He folded his arms across his chest and said simply, "Yukina."

"Whoa, slow down there," mumbled Yusuke sarcastically, flopping back down on the bed. "Too much talking."

Hiei smirked. "Good to see you again, detective."

"First, I'm not a spirit detective anymore, so will you please stop calling me that? Second, sit down, because my neck hurts from looking up at you. And third, is this about Yukina going to high school? Because I'm in college now, in case you don't know, and I can't really watch over her if that's what you came here to ask me to do."

"You talk too much," said Hiei. But he sat down on the edge of the bed, and he added, "Yusuke."

"All right. I'll ask. What _about_ Yukina?"

"I'm not going to ask you to protect her. But I hear she's going to be living with Keiko now, and…"

When Hiei didn't continue, Yusuke sat up again. "What?"

"I will be the one to watch over her," said Hiei. "Not forever. I only want to stay until I'm sure this is good for her, then I'll go back to the demon world."

Yusuke blinked. "If you're planning to pose as her classmate or something, let me nip that plan in the bud, because you look nothing like a high school student."

"I know that," Hiei snapped. "That's not what I plan to do."

"Then…" Yusuke thought for a moment. "I get it. You're going to confess that you're her brother so she'll confide in you about what goes on with her at high school."

Hiei scowled. "Are you always this dense?"

A moment of silence. They stared at each other.

"So that's not your plan?" Yusuke said finally, scratching his head.

"No!" Hiei snarled, losing patience. "I don't want Yukina to know she's my sister, but I do want to keep an eye on her for awhile, so I want to stay here with you! She will be close to Keiko, as you are, so you will often see the two of them. I want to be with you when that happens, so I can hear how she's doing. And we can come up with a reasonable excuse as to why I am back here in this damnable human world, so that Yukina doesn't suspect that I'm here for her."

This time Yusuke was the one who looked completely unruffled. "All right, all right, I get it. But I would've thought you'd stay with Kurama."

"I already asked him," Hiei muttered. "He said he was going to be away for a few months—"

"As an exchange student," Yusuke interrupted. He yawned, stretching his arms above his head. "I forgot about that. He'll be somewhere in Europe. And I guess you can't stay with Kuwabara." Hiei snorted at the very thought, but Yusuke ignored him and kept talking. "Can't you live in trees or something?"

The look in Hiei's maroon eyes threatened murder.

Yusuke snorted. "Relax. You can stay here. I'm going back to sleep. You can sleep wherever you want."

And, just like that, Yusuke lay back down, closed his eyes, and started snoring.

Hiei's eyes widened, and he stared at him, shaking his head. In slumber Yusuke looked harmless, which was stupid when you considered the damage he was capable of inflicting.

Hell. Hiei had never met anyone who could fall asleep anytime, anywhere, like Yusuke did. He himself couldn't even begin to feel sleepy until he was sure that there was no threat nearby. But then, Yusuke was less jaded. Much more trusting. A human failing, he thought to himself. What if he pulled out his sword and ran it through Yusuke's heart right now?

Not that he'd ever do such a thing — actually, he felt a chill run through him at the very thought of someone, least of all himself, murdering Yusuke Urameshi in his sleep — but it really was rather naïve of Yusuke to place himself in such a defenseless situation when there was a demon in the same room.

Hiei stood up and leapt out through the window.

He spent the rest of the night on the roof, gazing silently up at the sky.

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A guess. A guess. A guess.

Another guess.

Yusuke buried his head in his arms, exhaling. He was going to fail this test for sure. His guesses weren't even educated. For the past few questions he had simply been forming a pattern with the circles he shaded in. Each circle represented a possible answer in the multiple question test, and there were four circles per number, forming straight, neat rows on the answer sheet. He was making a smiley face.

Despondently he shaded in another circle, adding to the mouth of the smiley face. Ironic that he was making a happy face, really, since he felt anything but happy at the moment.

"Ten minutes left," the instructor intoned.

The hell with it. Yusuke jumped up, handed in his paper — he was the first to 'finish' the test — and left the classroom quickly, before the instructor noticed the pattern in his answers.

Keiko was going to kill him for sure.

"I know you can do this, Yusuke!" he said in a falsetto voice, mimicking Keiko. He shoved his hands in his pockets. "You just aren't trying. Why? Why isn't your education as important to you as your fighting skills? You're so lazy! You're —"

"Yusuke!"

He nearly fell over when he heard Keiko's voice from behind him. Devoutly hoping that she hadn't heard him mimicking her lectures, he turned. "Hey, Keiko."

She ran up to him and linked her arm through his, and despite everything, he smiled down at her. He really did care a lot about her. And he figured she did him too, if she continued going out with him despite the fact that she constantly berated him for being a lazy, good-for-nothing fool.

"How was your test?" she asked.

All his good thoughts vanished instantly. He was dead.

He coughed, stalling. "Um…"

She knew him well. Her eyes narrowed, and she dropped his arm. She stopped walking to confront him.

Desperate to distract her, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "Hiei's back!"

To his immense relief, it worked. Her squinty-eyed glare changed to an expression of pleasant surprise. "Really? Why did he come here?"

"Just checking some things out," he said vaguely.

Keiko accepted that. "You and Kuwabara and Kurama must be glad to see him again."

"I don't know about Kuwabara, but I'm sure Kurama was. Hiei was planning to stay with him, but he's leaving on that exchange student program he got into, so Hiei will be staying at my place."

"That's good. You can spend some time with him. Why wouldn't Kuwabara be happy to see Hiei?"

Yusuke grinned. "Besides the fact that they hate each other's guts?"

"They do not!" Keiko exclaimed. "You're making that up."

"Well, they don't really hate each other, but they each think the other's an idiot. To be honest Hiei's on the winning side of that argument."

Keiko thought that over. "I noticed that they did argue a lot, but I thought it was just their way of expressing affection for each other."

"Affection?" Yusuke snorted. "Hiei doesn't know the meaning of the word. He's not capable of feeling affection for anybody."

"Even you?"

Yusuke frowned. "What?"

"I think Hiei has at least some good feelings towards you and Kurama and Kuwabara. You've simply been through too much for him to be indifferent to you."

"I guess."

"Speaking of guesses." Suddenly Keiko turned foreboding again. She scowled at him. "How was your exam?"

"Nice day, isn't it?"

"Yusuke!"

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Hiei watched her from a tree.

Yukina was smiling, her light blue hair fluttering in the wind. She was listening to a girl walking next to her as she chatted about something or the other. As she talked, the girl dug out a sandwich from her bag and offered to Yukina, who accepted it and took a bite, offering a small apple in return. Hiei was pleased that his sister had found a friend.

But then, that had always been one of the fundamental differences between them. He never could understand why Yukina found it so easy to make friends, when he himself could count on one hand the number of people he trusted not to kill him if they had the opportunity.

As she and her friend drew nearer and nearer to him, her smile faded. When she was directly under the tree he was sitting in, she halted and glanced from side to side.

"What is it, Yukina?" her friend asked.

Yukina looked up.

Hiei stiffened, wondering if she could see him through the branches and leaves.

"Yukina? Are you all right?"

"Yes." Yukina tore her eyes away from the indistinct shadows within the trees and turned to her friend. "It was nothing. I just felt like someone was watching me."

"Creepy!"

They started walking again, out of the shadow of the tree, and back into the sunlight.

Hiei exhaled slowly, watching them leave. He wasn't sure whether to feel elated or worried about the strange bond he and Yukina had with each other. He had already decided never to tell her that she was his sister, and he wasn't going to change his mind.

Of course, if she found out on her own…

Hiei abandoned that dangerous line of thought.

He looked after his sister, who was growing smaller in the distance. If Yukina had been dismissed from school already, then likely Yusuke had been, too. For some reason, he was already looking forward to the moment he saw Yusuke again. It had been a couple of years since they had last seen each other, yet he felt at completely ease with him, as though it had only been yesterday that they were fighting Toguro and Sensui and all the other bad guys together. Not even Mukuro had the power to make Hiei feel as comfortable as his old friends Yusuke, Kurama, and, dammit, Kuwabara did.

He leapt up, a dizzying black blur against the pale sky, and headed for Yusuke's house.


End file.
